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Thursday, November 9, 2017

You Have One More Weekend to Go Ape at Stoney Creek

2017 has been a year of new experiences. I made a pledge to myself that I was going to put myself out there and try some new things and I have been following through with it. Each new adventure has taught me a lot about myself, especially last weeks trip to Go Ape Adventure Park where I learned I'm a lot more afraid of heights than I ever realized.

Last weekend I surprised my boyfriend with two reservations for a 1 p.m. adventure at Go Ape located in Stoney Creek Park. I knew that we were going to be zip lining and I didn't really know what else to expect. I expected to be a little scared of heights the first time that I went down a line, but assumed that it would be fun and worth trying. What I found was zip lining was only a very small part of the Go Ape Experience.

Go Ape is an adventure course. This means that to get to the point where you can zip line down from a tree, you have to get through a series of obstacles using willpower and physical strength. Some of these courses are fun and include moves like swinging from a Tarzan rope and walking across a tightrope with two support lines on each side. Other parts of the course are a little more challenging and include moves where you have to hang from a line and pull yourself across 40 feet with a rope and crossing a 40-foot area in-between trees by balancing yourself an going for it with no arm supports in sight. But, before you can even start making your way through the course you usually have to climb a rope ladder with about 20 pounds of ropes and chains hanging from you. The course is a mental and physical challenge but it's also really fun!

When you arrive at Go Ape, you have to check in and go through a 30-minute how-to course with an experienced adventure course professional. They teach how to ALWAYS STAY clicked into a tree and you do a little demo to make sure that you can handle yourself when you get out there because you are actually on your own once you hit the course. There are a few people stationed throughout the course with walkie-talkies in case something happens, but for the most part, you are on your own.

The 5 station adventure starts off slow and quickly becomes more difficult as you move along the stations. Each time I climbed up I instantly regretted it and each time I zipped down I was filled with joy. Zipping down is as fun as you think it would be and getting through the course makes you feel great about yourself. I definitely recommend trying this out of your up for a challenge, but I have some suggestions to help you get ready for your trip.

First of all, you want to wear comfortable clothing, good shoes, and gloves in case you need to grab onto something along the course. Leave your cell phone in the car, you're more likely to drop it or get hurt playing with it then you are to get a cool photo. If you really have to insta the experience have someone else take a shot from the ground. Make sure that you are full of energy and alert when you are on the course, this is not the kind of thing you can do after a few beers, you have to be on your game to make sure that you always stay clicked in because you could really get hurt! Finally, it's a good idea to do this with a friend so that there is someone on the course with you looking out for you as you move along. It is a really great way to bond with someone and see how close you really are.

Tickets to experience the course are $58 a person. Thanks to our friends at Go Ape, Hip in Detroit readers can get 15% off their adventure with the promo code HipInDetroitZips18. This weekend is the last weekend you can check out the course for 2017, but the code is good until 6/3/2018. So, if you cant make it out this weekend, you can give it a try next spring!